This spring, I had taken up more gardening than prior years. Due to the pandemic I had more time (fortunately or unfortunately?), as my hostess job was suspended and the semester was over by early May. I began growing tomatoes, different flowers, peppermint, and even a cactus. Only the tomatoes provided fruitful vegetation — the other plants did not want to grow strong. That was until I planted a few sunflowers; the seeds germinated overnight and by the end of the week, they were strong, happy stems. I thought the stems would remain pretty short, but they doubled in size each week — becoming sturdier and eventually taller than me. I hadn’t before acknowledged the strength and poise of sunflowers. In fact, when I was little, I thought sunflowers were ugly for their fuzzy brown center. Now, sunflowers being my favorite flower, I commend them for serving as a model to all plants: happy, confident, beautiful, and robust. I can relate this to the overall theme of the class reading, Braiding Sweetgrass, which is simply acknowledging the blessings that the Earth gives us. That is the problem with people nowadays — not enough of us recognize that we should be protecting our planet and the gifts it gives us. And we should always be giving thanks by acknowledging its beauty and speaking of nature’s currencies.
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